Skip to content
Ellie and Tom in working coats on a fell lane beside an open car door, papers in hand, the Howgills behind them

On the lane out of Ravenstonedale, on the way to a visit.

Ellie Rowan and Tom Beck. Two people, one practice, and one of them is yours.

Rowan and Beck is the two of them. Since 2012 they have worked from the office above the bookshop on Market Street in Kirkby Stephen, for hill farms, farm shops, holiday cottages, trades, sole traders and landlords across the upper Eden valley and the Howgills.

Every client is given one of them. That partner comes out to the kitchen table, learns how the place actually works, explains the figures in plain English, and is the one who answers when you ring the next year.

Two partners, one each

  • Ellie Rowan in a working coat in a farmyard beside a stone barn, a ring binder under her arm
    In a yard above Kirkby Stephen, records collected.

    Ellie Rowan

    Partner

    Ellie has been one half of the practice since it opened in 2012. She would rather sit at your table with the books open than send a letter, and she will say plainly what a figure means for your place before she says what the rules call it.

    If Ellie is your partner, Ellie is who you ring. She will collect your records from the farm if you would rather not post them, agree the fee with you in writing before anything starts, and be the same voice on the phone next year.

    Write to Ellie
  • Tom Beck in a working jacket in the doorway of a farm shop, a folder in hand and the fell beyond the yard
    At a farm shop door on the Eden side, in the drizzle.

    Tom Beck

    Partner

    Tom is the other half, and has been since 2012. He likes a job explained from the yard inwards: what the place does, who does it, and what comes in and goes out, before any form is mentioned. Making Tax Digital, VAT and company accounts get told in those terms.

    If Tom is your partner, Tom is who you ring. He will drive out for the records, put the fee in writing before the work begins, and pick up the phone himself the year after and the year after that.

    Write to Tom

The same person next year

When you first ring, whichever of us you speak to asks about the place: what kind of business it is, where it is, who is in it and what is coming up. From that first conversation you are given either Ellie or Tom, and that is who you have.

It stays that way because there are only two of us and we mean it to. Your partner keeps your file, makes your visits and signs off your returns. The other one knows enough to hold the fort for a week, and no more than that. Nobody is handed down to a trainee when the practice gets busy.

Above the bookshop on Market Street since 2012

A stone bookshop on Market Street in Kirkby Stephen with the lit first-floor office windows above it, a bicycle and a dog outside
The office is the first floor. The door is beside the bookshop window.

Market Street, Kirkby Stephen. Park on the market square and walk up.

Rowan and Beck, above the bookshop, Market Street, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria. Go through the door beside the bookshop and up the stairs; one of us will hear you on the landing.

Thursday runs until seven for anyone who cannot get down into town before milking is done or the van is back.

Monday
08:30–17:30
Tuesday
08:30–17:30
Wednesday
08:30–17:30
Thursday
08:30–19:00
Friday
08:30–16:00
The upper Eden valley from high ground, a walled road threading through the valley floor towards distant farms under a grey sky

Where we come out to

Kitchen-table visits, and collecting records, are part of the job rather than a favour. This is the ground we cover from Kirkby Stephen, named by the roads you drive.

  • Up the B6259 into Mallerstang Nateby, Outhgill and the farms up to the Yorkshire boundary at Aisgill, with Wild Boar Fell on one side and Mallerstang Edge on the other.
  • Round Kirkby Stephen itself Hartley, Winton, Kaber, Soulby, Crosby Garrett, Smardale and Waitby: the villages and farms within a few minutes of the office.
  • Along the A685 to the Howgills Ravenstonedale, Newbiggin-on-Lune, Orton, Tebay and the farms on the Howgills side towards Sedbergh.
  • Down the A66 and the Eden Brough, Warcop, Great Musgrave, Appleby and the valley-floor farms between, and north-east up to Stainmore.

If you are further out than this, ask. We will tell you honestly whether we can come, rather than say yes and then rarely turn up.

Switching from another accountant

Most people who come to us have been somewhere else for years and dread the conversation more than the paperwork. You do not have to have it. Changing accountant in Kirkby Stephen, or anywhere up the valley, works like this.

  1. You tell us you would like to move.

    Ring, write below or call in. We ask about the place, who looks after it now, and what is next on the calendar. You are given Ellie or Tom at this point, and the fee for a business of your kind is agreed with you in writing before anything else happens.

  2. We write to your old accountant.

    Accountants call this a professional enquiry. It tells them you have asked us to take over, asks whether there is anything we should know, and asks for your records. We send it. You do not have to ring them or explain yourself.

  3. Your records come across and we check the dates.

    Last year's accounts, the tax computations and whatever is still open move to us. We go through what has been filed and what is due, so that nothing falls between the two firms. If a deadline is close we time the handover round it; from the day it is ours to meet, our promise on penalties applies.

  4. Your partner comes out.

    The first visit is to the kitchen table or the yard, to see how the place works and collect anything still in a drawer. From then on it is ordinary: one person, the fee you agreed, and the phone answered by someone who knows the farm.

How the fee is agreed before we start

Start a conversation

Ring the office in the hours below and you will get Ellie or Tom, not a desk. If you would rather write, the form goes to the two of us and nobody else, and we reply in the same week.

Monday to Wednesday
08:30–17:30
Thursday
08:30–19:00
Friday
08:30–16:00
Above the bookshop, Market Street, Kirkby Stephen. Call in during those hours, or ask us to come out to you.

Or leave us a word

Three things and we will do the rest. No newsletter, no follow-up you did not ask for.

A phone number or an email address, whichever you would rather we used. If signal is poor at the farm, say when is best to try.
Already with another accountant? Say so and we will handle the switch.

How we handle what you send us